You dont have to Go Home, but you cannot stay here

Twitter has informed staff that the company's office buildings would be temporarily shuttered beginning today. Workers were notified in a message received by the BBC that the offices will reopen on Monday, November 21.


No Explanations given

It did not provide an explanation for these actions. The news comes amid allegations that a huge number of employees were leaving after new owner,a Mr Elon Musk ordered them to work "long hours at high intensity" or leave.

"Please continue to comply with corporate policy by abstaining from disclosing sensitive business information on social media, with the press, or elsewhere," the note said.

Unions are getting riled up

Unions have expressed concern over the claims, with Prospect, the union representing computer workers, requesting a meeting with Twitter UK to discuss the treatment of its staff.

"We will not allow the makings of a digital P&O escape unnoticed," said Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy, alluding to the ferry operator's move earlier this year to lay off employees and replace them with agency workers.

"We are requesting a meeting with Twitter UK Ltd as soon as possible to address how it will conduct its collective redundancy consultation, guarantee a fair and open process, and satisfy its duty of care and legal duties to workers, particularly those with special needs."

"Prospect will continue to do all in our power to help our Twitter users." Big internet tycoons aren't above the law, and we'll hold Twitter legally accountable whenever feasible."

Many resigned due to new working conditions and long work hours

There are indications that a substantial number of employees have quit as a result of Mr Musk's new conditions.

According to one former Twitter employee who wishes to remain anonymous, "I believe after the dust settles today, there'll probably be fewer than 2,000 employees remaining."

They stated that their whole crew had been fired. His boss, the manager of the squad, was fired. Then that manager's manager was fired. The individual above that was one of the executives that was fired on the first day.

So nobody is left in that line of command."

Another individual said that they had quit despite being willing to work long hours. "I didn't want to work for someone who threatened us several times through email about only 'special tweeps should work here' when I was already working 60-70 hours each week," they said.

Former Twitter vice-president Bruce Daisley told the media that former Twitter engineers were warning the social media network might "collapse as soon as Monday" in reaction to worker departures.

"There are a lot of features that seem to be reliant on having engineers on site," he says.

"If those engineers go, the product's long-term viability is jeopardized."

"So, there are a lot of individuals advertising where you can get them somewhere online."

Pledge your loyalty

Mr Musk warned Twitter employees this week that they needed to commit to working long hours and be "very hardcore" or quit the firm.

According to the Washington Post, the firm's new owner said in an email to employees that if they wanted to continue, they needed adhere to the commitment.

Those who did not sign up by Thursday, November 17, will be granted three months' severance compensation, according to Mr Musk.

The corporation said earlier this month that it will be laying off around 50% of its workers. Employees who were leaving the company tweeted using the hashtag #LoveWhereYouWorked and a saluting emoji.

Despite the company's troubles, Musk tweeted on Friday, "And... we just reached another all-time high in Twitter use hehe."

"'Rome has never been this brilliantly lighted at night!' - Nero," satirist Frank Lesser said, referring to the Roman emperor who is said to have fiddled as Rome burnt.

Before Mr Musk came over, Twitter employed around 7,500 people. The company was also said to have employed thousands of contract employees, the vast majority of whom were reportedly laid off.

The world's wealthiest individual became Twitter's CEO after purchasing the company for $44 billion (£37 billion) last month.

Mr Musk seemed unfazed by rumors that Twitter was going to shut down, tweeting: "The best people are remaining, so I'm not overly worried."

He posted a skull and crossbones emoji and a parody of a tombstone with the Twitter logo on it in separate tweets.

Half of the staff was laid off by Mr Musk one week after completing his acquisition of the platform, and many more have left after he wrote an email demanding "hardcore" working conditions and excessive hours from his surviving workers.

According to their Twitter biographies, many of those leaving are engineers, developers, and programmers - the folks who work on the guts of what makes Twitter operate.

Let's look at the two major threats that might quickly knock the blue bird from its perch.

Could it be compromised?

The first and most apparent possibility is a disastrous hack.

Twitter, like other major websites, will be under continual assault from bad actors - even at the state level - looking to sow trouble.

World leaders, politicians, and celebrities all have personal Twitter accounts with millions of followers - ripe pickings for a hacker looking to get a large number of people to notice their fraud, as we've seen previously.

Or they may just want it to go away, so they flood it with web traffic to test if it becomes overloaded and goes down. Attempts like these will continue - it's a never-ending war.

Cyber-security is, or should be, a crucial aspect of every company's day-to-day operations in the twenty-first century. Lea Kissner, Twitter's head of cyber-security, quit the business last week.

It's unclear whether she was replaced. Twitter's security is expected to be rather strong. You can't manage a site visited by 300 million people every month on a piece of thread.

However, their toughness need ongoing upkeep.

Consider your own phone or laptop, and the security upgrades you must apply on a regular basis.

That's because new vulnerabilities are constantly discovered, new chinks in the armor you weren't aware of, and it's the provider's responsibility to deliver you the patch.

Servers are under attack

The second possible calamity is if the servers are knocked down - either intentionally or by accident during normal maintenance that is not adequately managed.

There is no Twitter without servers (or Facebook, or Instagram or indeed our digital world.)

Servers, or powerful computers, serve as the platforms' actual bodies. They may be found in data centers. These are basically warehouses full of computer servers that are essential to the functioning of internet enterprises. The world is managed by servers.

As you may expect, all of those equipment produce a lot of heat. Data centers must be maintained cool and have an uninterrupted power supply. As data is transferred across servers, they need maintenance and replacement as well.

Everything has the potential for anything to go wrong. If it occurred, it would be unexpected and spectacular.

Nuclear power is an alternative.

Of course, Elon Musk is aware of all of this. Let us not presume he doesn't.

He may, however, opt to play the buffoon.

Being Spied Upon

We don't know who is now keeping an eye on us.

But something occurred to me yesterday that made me believe there are more people monitoring Twitter than we realize.

I shared the case of an astronomer who was shut out of her account after inadvertently triggering automatic moderating tools. Nobody from Twitter or Mr Musk's other companies reacted or contacted her.

However, her account was restored later that day.

Someone was paying notice somewhere on Twitter. Perhaps there are still a sufficient number of people doing so. Of course, there is a third possibility - the nuclear option - in which Musk declares Twitter bankrupt and shuts it down.

Although, for the time being, he seems to be enjoying his position as Chief Twit.

How Serious a Twitter Mega-Breach Would Be?

Elon Musk lay off half of his employees, and mass resignations seem to be on the way. What's the worst that may happen if no one is present to guard the fort?

The social network has been in a state of dramatic upheaval in the weeks after Elon Musk was obliged to finalize his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Musk dismissed more than half of his employees through public tweets.

The digital infrastructure failed. Today, 75 percent of employees reportedly declined to sign a vow to work "extended hours at high intensity," allegedly sparking their resignations.

It's unclear who is still employed at Twitter.

  • October 27, 2022

Musk completes his $44 billion (£38.1 billion) buyout of Twitter, sacking a number of the company's senior executives immediately and declares "the bird is liberated."

Musk altered his Twitter profile to "Chief Twit" before formally taking over the firm, then he arrived at Twitter HQ in San Francisco carrying a sink, stating, "Let it sink in!"

A pledge was made in response to hate speech.

  • October 28th

Musk answers to worries that he may relax corporate policies limiting hate speech and disinformation by claiming he has "not yet made any adjustments."

Before any policy changes, he says, a new "content moderation committee with vastly varied opinions" will convene. 'Trolling campaign' on the platform

  • October 29th

Following a spike in racist posts, Twitter's director of trust and safety declares, "Hateful behaviour has no place here."

According to Yoel Roth, the firm is taking action against individuals "engaged in this trolling effort" in order to keep Twitter a safe and inviting place for everyone.

Musk